Drainage systems are provided on buildings to carry off water or melting snow from their roofs. On commercial type buildings, the run off may be handled by a plurality of vertical drains leading from the roof surface which is bounded by edging installed on the vertical fascia of the building to act as an edge dam to restrain the water and to assist its discharge through the vertical drains. Smaller commercial buildings usually have a roof sloped toward one side of the building, and conventional guttering with one or more downspouts installed. Residential buildings are provided with guttering at the edges of the sloping roofs.
Commercial buildings are generally of such height that the primary debris accumulating on the roof is dirt particles deposited on the roof from the atmosphere either by gravity or as a result of moisture of the air. Residential and low level commercial buildings accumulate the dirt deposits plus additional debris such as leaves and small branches and twigs from surrounding trees. Such debris is washed into the guttering system by run off from rain and, depending upon the severity of the season, by melting snow. Some of the debris is moved down the roof gutters to the downspout systems at the ends of the guttering systems where it is discharged on the ground at the lower end of the downspouts. However, such debris can accumulate in the guttering system during periods of no rain, particularly in the fall seasons. By the time fall rains arrive the debris is consolidated in the guttering system, sometimes acting as an additional bottom surface of the system. Under all conditions the debris may accumulate at the downspouts to the extent that the downspouts are at least partially blocked. The removal of debris is necessary and is not easily accomplished.
The simplistic method of removal of debris from guttering systems is to use ladders to reach the gutters and there remove the debris by hand or by use of rake-like devices to pull the debris to the ladder area where it is removed by hand. To forestall the use of ladders, devices have been patented which allow the homeowner to stand on the ground and extend the devices up and over the guttering system where the devices can be moved along the systems to gather up the debris and remove it from the gutter.
Various attempts have been made as substitutes for such hand removal. Screens are available to cover the open gutters. However, such screens can be covered with leaves during non-rainy periods and such leaf covering can be consolidated on the screens by rain, hampering, if not negating, the usefulness of the gutters. Hence the screens must be cleaned off, generally employing the same means as for open gutters.
A multitude of patents have been issued in attempts to solve the gutter cleaning problem and the inconvenience and sometimes danger involved. Such patents have the basic concept of rotating the gutters at least 90.degree. whereby the contents can be more easily removed. These prior art systems have not been widely adapted because of the cumbersome and complexity of the structures required for the rotation of the gutters. Most of the gutters in these patents are of arcuate cross-section which facilitates rotation about their supports, but which cross-sections are generally not currently employed.
Current gutters are generally of a rectilinear cross-section identified as a K-style having an outer surface which is aesthetically curved. U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,292 discloses a gutter of such configuration which is supported by an L-shaped bracket attached to the house under its eave, the outer end of the bracket being hingedly connected to the outer bottom edge of the gutter, the inner vertical leg of the gutter having a releasable fastener which engages a latch on the bracket to hold the gutter in a rain-receiving position.
None of these prior art patents which are related to a rotatable gutter consider the relationship of the gutter and its downspout outlet assembly. As is, or should be, well known the downspout assembly consists of a cap element closing the cutter with an outlet in the bottom of the cap element. Arcuate sections and straight sections of various lengths are interconnected to the cap outlet to convey the run off from the gutter to the ground. When assembled, these assembled downspout elements are rigidly connected to the cap and the wall of the building. The prior art does not disclose how the rotatable gutters cooperate with the fixed downspout assembly.